Asia - South China Morning Post

Trials are under way in China to roll out autonomous navigation and other smart shipping solutions to slash logistics costs ahead of the opening of the landmark Pinglu Canal, which will link its landlocked southwestern regions to Southeast Asia to spur trade and connectivity.

Intelligent barges and other vessels have been tested on the artificial waterway in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region since Wednesday, as part of preparations for the commissioning of the roughly US$10 billion...

A Thai police officer who tried to flee after allegedly shooting his wife and her mother with his service weapon outside a gym was chased down and detained by two fitness trainers.

Responding to reports of gunshots, officers from Nang Rong Police Station arrived at the two-storey fitness centre owned by the shooter’s wife behind Sra Ya Ma Market in Buriram province on Wednesday afternoon, according to the ThaiRath newspaper.

They found the 37-year-old gym owner lying in a pool of blood with a...

A sharp sell-off in Indonesian assets has taken on a political tone online, with some social media users alleging, without evidence, that Singapore stands to gain from a “Sell Indonesia” narrative around Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.

The rupiah has slipped to multiple record lows and weakened about 8 per cent this year, crossing a key level and trading above 18,000 to the US dollar last week, while Jakarta’s stock market has lost about a third of its value since the start of the year.

As...

The mother of a 16-year-old girl who died from emaciation following lengthy detention and menacing interrogations by Japanese authorities is seeking compensation, in the latest “hostage justice” case.

The lawsuit, filed with western Japan’s Kobe district court on Wednesday, argues that the girl’s 18-day ordeal at a jail traumatised her so much that five months after her release, she weighed just 20kg (44lbs) – and died in December.

“My daughter was unrecognisable when she died,” the mother of...

Malaysian police have deported two Indian nationals wanted in connection with an explosion on a railway line in Punjab, in a case Indian media have linked to an alleged militant plot tied to the Khalistan separatist movement.

Royal Malaysia Police said the pair were sent back to India on Wednesday after Indian authorities requested help locating and detaining them.

M. Kumar S. Muthuvelu, director of the police’s criminal investigation department, said the two were believed to have been involved...

Japanese football fans have gone viral once again for tidying up the stadium after their team’s World Cup match against the Netherlands this week, only to prompt a meme criticising the country’s men for not applying the same standards of behaviour while at home.

A spoof of a train etiquette poster contrasts an image of a football fan cleaning a stadium with a domestic scene where a woman washes dishes while a man clad in the national team’s Samurai Blue kit lounges on a sofa behind her. The...

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim visited Russia’s Kazan with a message about Asean centrality and a more urgent national problem behind it: keeping fuel supplies secure as global energy uncertainties linger.

The two-day Asean-Russia Commemorative Summit has turned into a small but telling test of Washington’s influence in Southeast Asia, according to analysts, with Anwar and other regional leaders meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin even as Western governments seek to increase...

A Singaporean man is facing jail time for sending an edited photo of Marina Bay Sands (MBS) on fire to Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s Facebook page while mentioning a “bomb”.

Andie Tan Kok Yong, a 35-year-old Singaporean, pleaded guilty on Thursday to one charge of knowingly sending a false message under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act.

A second charge of obstructing the course of justice by performing a factory reset of his phone will be considered in...

The deaths in quick succession of three rugby players in Malaysia have put renewed focus on the risks of competing in extreme heat and humidity, as climate change pushes temperatures higher across Southeast Asia.

On May 23, prop Azlan Azhari, playing for Kedah’s state team against Johor in the 2026 Agong Cup, a local interstate tournament, collapsed about five minutes after scoring a try. The 22-year-old was stretchered off the field and taken to hospital where he was placed in an induced coma...

When Yuriko Koike was Japan’s environment minister in 2005, she was hailed by legions of salarymen as they shed ties and jackets in summer during the “Cool Biz” national energy-saving campaign that she helped to launch.

Now, as Tokyo governor, Koike has taken the idea a step further: shorts in the office.

In April, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government said it would allow male employees to arrive for work in shorts, urging businesses across the capital to adopt similarly relaxed dress codes.

Tokyo...